Migrating a forum? Handling SEO redirects

[openmind]

Hi, I have a phpbb forum which has been online since September 2003. Now I want to migrate it to a new forum that runs on Python. Is it possible to migrate all the threads and posts? If so, how? Also, how do I create redirects for so many URLs, is there a script or do I need to do them manually? Many thanks.

[martinibuster]

Afaik, every forum software has a migration tool that allows you to switch from one software to another. You might have to have the latest version to do the migration.

I'm not sure how the URL situation is handled. I'd like to know as well!

[lucy24]

how do I create redirects for so many URLs, is there a script or do I need to do them manually?

If your software doesn't have a built-in tool, and there's absolutely no relationship between old URL and new URL, the last-resort approach is something like

RewriteRule ^forums/.+ /fixup.php [L]

placed among your other redirects. The file "fixup.php" then performs any necessary lookups and finally issues the 301 redirect. Details depend on your old and new URL structure; this is simply the general layout.